Sania up against Shvedova in opener

Sania Mirza receives a relatively easy first-round draw at the Wimbledon as she is drawn against the lower-ranked Russian.

Sania Mirza on Friday received a relatively easy first-round draw at the Wimbledon and the Indian ace will open her campaign against lower-ranked Russian Yaroslava Shvedova at the All England Club.

This will be the first time that the two will face off against each other and Sania starts off as favourite as the Russian is ranked more than 30 places below her in the WTA charts at 80th.

However, should she get past Shvedova, a tougher second round awaits the 20-year-old Hyderabadi girl as she will probably be up against 11th seed Nadia Petrova of Russia who faces American Vania King in the first round.

In doubles, Sania has teamed up with Sahar Peer and the Indo-Israeli pair has been seeded 16th. Sania and Sahar will take on the Swedish-American pair of Sofia Arvidsson and Lilia Osterloh in the opening round.

Sania has had an ordinary build-up to the grass court Grand Slam starting on Monday, crashing out in the first round of this week's Ordina Open.

Meanwhile, in men's doubles, Leander Paes and his Czech partner Martin Damm have been seeded fifth and will start their campaign against Chris Haggard of South Africa and Marcin Matkowski of Poland.

Mahesh Bhupathi and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek have been seeded 11th and will take on the German-Austrian duo of Christopher Kas and Alexander Peya in the opening round.